Kind of a disappointing end to a good home stand. But 5-2 ain't hay. Tough 6 games coming in NY and Boston. You'd think we could take at least 3 from Baltimore. We're better off than anybody I remember predicting back in Mar/Apr.

Talent can get you to the playoffs.It takes character to win when you get there.SUPER BOWL XLVIII CHAMPIONS

I don't think he is the starting pitcher that would put us over the top, but would definitely help the rotation. If we acquire him, I think it would be pretty obvious that Felix would get bumped out the rotation. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I think we still need a 1B type pitcher to Paxton's 1A. Just not sure we got the pieces to trade for that type of pitcher.

I don't think he is the starting pitcher that would put us over the top, but would definitely help the rotation. If we acquire him, I think it would be pretty obvious that Felix would get bumped out the rotation. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I think we still need a 1B type pitcher to Paxton's 1A. Just not sure we got the pieces to trade for that type of pitcher.

Watch us take out Leake instead. Honestly it doesn’t seem like it would be a huge difference between Leake and Felix anyways

Leake belongs in the rotation. Prior to yesterdays game he has been on a great run since the beginning of May. Leake is a really solid pitcher and has been around the league a while. If anyone should go, it should be Felix.

It's really too bad about the AL. There is a great chance four teams from the AL will have over 100 wins, and it's not like the Indians are a team to be taken lightly in October. The NL looks like the East of the NBA right now, a bunch of good but not great teams. If the M's were in the NL they'd like the the #1 seed.

Seattle owns a team ERA of 3.86 and left-hander Marco Gonzales, who starts the opener, has been its hottest pitcher. He is 4-0 with a 1.41 ERA in his last six starts. During those outings, hitters are batting .204 against him.

You guys really think they'll sit Felix? I just don't see that happening. The only way I see them adding a starting pitcher is if one of the guys goes down with an injury. Even then they still have Erasmo Ramirez coming back at some point who you have to find a spot for. Realistically if they add someone I think it'll be another bat or a reliever. Someone like Zach Britton makes a lot of sense. Lengthen the BP to take responsibility/work off your starters.

I can't stress enough how stupid of a pitch that was by Cook. He had already gotten away with the same pitch on the first pitch and then he gets it to 0-2 and comes back with it. It should have been nowhere near the plate on 0-2 and instead he throws the same exact pitch that Stanton was probably regretting not swinging at on the first one. Zunino is an idiot for calling it. He is lost at the plate as well. He takes pitches right down the middle and swings at pitches a foot off the plate.

Cook was solid in May, but he's been struggling the last few games. It's not easy watching our bullpen give up 5 runs after Felix did his job through 5 tough innings against probably the best lineup in the MLB.

Let's hope we salvage a win tomorrow. But we'll be going against Severino, so I'm not sure how realistic a win would be. Let's hope we score at least 2 runs and Pax hold them to 1 or 0.

M's completely blew that game yesterday, particularly the bullpen. Colome has been underwhelming since coming over in the trade. Cook has been a disaster as of late. Both of them missed on pitches and they paid for it.

I really hope the M's don't trade for JA Happ. He isn't the piece to put us over the top. Especially with Felix looking better as of late, no need to bounce someone out of the rotation for a guy like Happ. He is basically what we already have, a bunch of #3(ish) starting pitchers. I know his numbers look great, but he is probably overachieving a bit (like many of our starters). Unless we can get a dominant type of pitcher to put next to Pax, it may be smarter to go after another bullpen arm.

I think we are a good team, but I wouldn't put us ahead of the Astros, Yanks, Sox or even the Indians in a series. Unfortunately I don't know if we have the pieces to make a trade to get ahead of any of those teams.

bigtrain21 wrote:I can't stress enough how stupid of a pitch that was by Cook. He had already gotten away with the same pitch on the first pitch and then he gets it to 0-2 and comes back with it. It should have been nowhere near the plate on 0-2 and instead he throws the same exact pitch that Stanton was probably regretting not swinging at on the first one. Zunino is an idiot for calling it. He is lost at the plate as well. He takes pitches right down the middle and swings at pitches a foot off the plate.

Zunino was set up low and on the outside corner. Trying to blame that on Zunino is absurd. It couldn't be more obvious that where that pitch ended up was a mistake by Cook. He missed his spot. If he executes that pitch properly, it's likely a swing and a miss or ball 1.

Crizilla wrote:hanging slider right in Stanton's wheel house. I swear he hits that pitch for a homer every time. Very dumb pitch especially on 0-2 count.

You guys are pretty much blowing my mind. You actually think he meant to throw that pitch where he did? You actually think he meant to throw a meatball in the middle of the plate to Giancarlo Stanton in a tie game in the bottom of the 9th?

Hawk-Lock wrote:M's completely blew that game yesterday, particularly the bullpen. Colome has been underwhelming since coming over in the trade. Cook has been a disaster as of late. Both of them missed on pitches and they paid for it.

I really hope the M's don't trade for JA Happ. He isn't the piece to put us over the top. Especially with Felix looking better as of late, no need to bounce someone out of the rotation for a guy like Happ. He is basically what we already have, a bunch of #3(ish) starting pitchers. I know his numbers look great, but he is probably overachieving a bit (like many of our starters). Unless we can get a dominant type of pitcher to put next to Pax, it may be smarter to go after another bullpen arm.

I think we are a good team, but I wouldn't put us ahead of the Astros, Yanks, Sox or even the Indians in a series. Unfortunately I don't know if we have the pieces to make a trade to get ahead of any of those teams.

If you look at JA Happ's stats this season, 23 of the 36 runs he's given up were in 5 games out of 15. The other 10 games, he's been solid. Softy posted a stat on Twitter that his ERA in those other 10 games were 1.6 or something like that. I'm not saying he's a good trade target, I think he's old and will wear down as the season progresses, but he isn't as bad as most people think. He could be a good 3 or 4 guy, imo, and better than Leake or LeBlanc right now. Like it or not, we DO NEED another quality starting pitcher if we are to have any chance of advancing to the playoffs.

If we end up in the 1-game wild card playoff, which is the most likely scenario, tbh, Paxton will likely pitch that game. Then, if we happen to win it, we'll need a solid 2-4 in our rotation to have any chance of advancing. I read somewhere that Randy Johnson felt like we could've won the World Series in 1995 if it weren't for him having to pitch that tie-breaker game against the Angels to get us into the playoffs. Randy being used in that game set the rotation back for the rest of that 95 playoffs.

But back to the present, if our bullpen can't hold on to leads and our offense continues to struggle (we have holes in the lineup after Cruz), I wouldn't really hang too much hope on advancing past the wild-card, if we make it.

As much as I'd like to believe different, this team is just a notch below Houston, NY and Boston. Not a huge gap, but it's pretty clear. Just get to the dance and anything can happen. I might be in the minority, but I'm still not sold on Servais. On another note, 5 STRAIGHT innings leaving a man in scoring position. You can't do that against a good team, period.

SoulfishHawk wrote:As much as I'd like to believe different, this team is just a notch below Houston, NY and Boston. Not a huge gap, but it's pretty clear. .

Look at the run differentials. It is a massive gap between those teams and the Mariners. That isn't to say that the Mariners couldn't win a short series, as there is so much variance in baseball, but this team isn't as good as their record might suggest. The Mariners have a fluky one-run-game record and have played way more games against the Central than any of those teams.

SoulfishHawk wrote:As much as I'd like to believe different, this team is just a notch below Houston, NY and Boston. Not a huge gap, but it's pretty clear. .

Look at the run differentials. It is a massive gap between those teams and the Mariners. That isn't to say that the Mariners couldn't win a short series, as there is so much variance in baseball, but this team isn't as good as their record might suggest. The Mariners have a fluky one-run-game record and have played way more games against the Central than any of those teams.

This.

Pythagorean W-L says we should be 39-35, team is definitely overachieving. We are due for regression after winning all those one run games.

Right. So the entire rest of the season before today doesn't count and all of a sudden it's "same old Mariners" because they just lost a series on the east coast to the best team in baseball?

Here's a look at what the Mariners have done in June so far (which looks a lot like May and April BTW)

Swept a 3 game series against the Rays at home

Split 2 games against the Astros in Houston

Won 3 out of 4 against the Rays in Tampa

Swept a 3 game series against the Angels at home

Split a 4 game series against the Red Sox at home

Got swept in a 3 game series by the Yankees in NY

This is the first series they've lost in well over a month. This isn't remotely the "same old Mariners" unless you're going back over a decade and a half, but we both know that's not what people mean when they say same old Mariners.

Not the same old M's at all. Shoot, first time swept all year, that's impressive.They lost 2 of those games that they easily could have won. I expect them to make the playoffs. But to say the M's are as good at the Red Sox, Yankees or Astros right now is just not true. YET. The gap is WAY smaller than some think imo. But I'm coming from a extreme hate for the Yanks, their fans, their announcers, their media. All of it. I have never thrown in the towel, and I certainly won't after this series. But to ignore the fact that they got swept and act like it's no big deal, not quite at that point. It does matter, but it's June 21st. There is a ton of baseball to be played. I'm enjoying this ride, been a LONGGGGG time There is nothing wrong with being pissed off when they lose, it's part of sports. Just means we care, and I have higher expectations of them than I have in almost 2 decades. Nice thing about baseball, there's almost always another game tomorrow.

Yeah no reason to get down on them. They lost a road series to a team that will likely compete for the World Series. The M's are a good team, but not a great team. They have likely overachieved, but are still a good team. Even though there are still close to 100 games left in the season, it almost seems like a foregone conclusion we will be playing the one game wildcard in either Boston or New York.

God I can't wait, one game playoff, anything can happen. Nothing matters that happened during the 162 game season. As always, it's easy to be angry right after losses. But stepping back and really looking at what we've seen, and what they've accomplished, they are still 17 over .500 and are in just about every game they play.

I'm not a 100% sold on Servais either, from his poor management of the bull pen at times to his mind-boggling lineups (his persistence in putting Seager 5th). But he's done a remarkable job most other times to get this team to where they are, 17 games above .500. Call it what you will, but it's quite an accomplishment, considering our starting rotation, Cano suspension, and our lineup.

I agree with others that this is not the "same 'ol Mariners." If it were, we'd have lost more than half of those 1-run games, get blown out by good teams (NYY, BoSox, Hou), and folded a long time ago. Yet, we're on pace to break records regarding 1-run wins, we stay competitive vs those big 3 teams, and always fight to come back in every single game where we're down early.

Like some have said, it's June 21st, we're 17 games over .500, and we're in nearly every single game that we've played. There's still a LOT of baseball left and this is literally the toughest stretch of our schedule the entire season. It's nothing to be ashamed of losing to the two best teams in the MLB, yet we could've won a two or 3 of those losses vs Bos and NYY.

We'll turn it around, this team is just too gritty and scrappy to do otherwise.

Also, I don't think we're nearly as good as those 3 other teams. If we are to compete with them, like it or not, we do need another starting arm...and another bat in our lineup. Without Cano to lengthen our lineup, the difference is very noticeable. With him, we are about 7 man deep, without...I wouldn't worry about anyone past Cruz. I mean, what's the point of Andrew Romine??? We might as well play in the NL and forfeit an AB whenever Romine comes up to bat.

bigtrain21 wrote:I can't stress enough how stupid of a pitch that was by Cook. He had already gotten away with the same pitch on the first pitch and then he gets it to 0-2 and comes back with it. It should have been nowhere near the plate on 0-2 and instead he throws the same exact pitch that Stanton was probably regretting not swinging at on the first one. Zunino is an idiot for calling it. He is lost at the plate as well. He takes pitches right down the middle and swings at pitches a foot off the plate.

Zunino was set up low and on the outside corner. Trying to blame that on Zunino is absurd. It couldn't be more obvious that where that pitch ended up was a mistake by Cook. He missed his spot. If he executes that pitch properly, it's likely a swing and a miss or ball 1.

Crizilla wrote:hanging slider right in Stanton's wheel house. I swear he hits that pitch for a homer every time. Very dumb pitch especially on 0-2 count.

You guys are pretty much blowing my mind. You actually think he meant to throw that pitch where he did? You actually think he meant to throw a meatball in the middle of the plate to Giancarlo Stanton in a tie game in the bottom of the 9th?

Good lord guys...

I'm not saying he meant to throw it. I'm saying don't try a slider on the outside corner at all. Give him a total ball and see if he bites or not.

bigtrain21 wrote:I can't stress enough how stupid of a pitch that was by Cook. He had already gotten away with the same pitch on the first pitch and then he gets it to 0-2 and comes back with it. It should have been nowhere near the plate on 0-2 and instead he throws the same exact pitch that Stanton was probably regretting not swinging at on the first one. Zunino is an idiot for calling it. He is lost at the plate as well. He takes pitches right down the middle and swings at pitches a foot off the plate.

Zunino was set up low and on the outside corner. Trying to blame that on Zunino is absurd. It couldn't be more obvious that where that pitch ended up was a mistake by Cook. He missed his spot. If he executes that pitch properly, it's likely a swing and a miss or ball 1.

Crizilla wrote:hanging slider right in Stanton's wheel house. I swear he hits that pitch for a homer every time. Very dumb pitch especially on 0-2 count.

You guys are pretty much blowing my mind. You actually think he meant to throw that pitch where he did? You actually think he meant to throw a meatball in the middle of the plate to Giancarlo Stanton in a tie game in the bottom of the 9th?

Good lord guys...

I'm not saying he meant to throw it. I'm saying don't try a slider on the outside corner at all. Give him a total ball and see if he bites or not.

The point of the pitch was to be a slider in the dirt or nowhere near Stanton. He didn't command it correctly. It's that simple. The slider wasn't the issue, it was the placement.

I honestly can't even hate the Yanks or Sox right now. For the most part, both those teams are built through their farm system. I just couldn't stand them back in the day when they literally used to buy all their players. Other than Stanton, pretty much all of the Yanks stars came up through their farm system.

Hawk-Lock wrote:I honestly can't even hate the Yanks or Sox right now. For the most part, both those teams are built through their farm system. I just couldn't stand them back in the day when they literally used to buy all their players. Other than Stanton, pretty much all of the Yanks stars came up through their farm system.

Agree. Funny thing is stanton went to yankees after jeter took over marlins. Sketchy imo.

Hawk-Lock wrote:I honestly can't even hate the Yanks or Sox right now. For the most part, both those teams are built through their farm system. I just couldn't stand them back in the day when they literally used to buy all their players. Other than Stanton, pretty much all of the Yanks stars came up through their farm system.

Time to end the Nicasio experiment YET???? Have you seen enough yet???6.60 ERA and it’s almost July. Why was he allowed to stay in as long as he was.

When you don’t make the playoffs or miss getting a higher seed by a few games, you can point to stubbornness of not admitting that Nicasio is horrible and it was a bad trade. Cut him, and eat the cash before he costs you another ball game.